


Devastation

by katbear



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Canon-Typical Violence, Don't copy to another site, Gen, many dead Jedi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-08 06:09:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21471325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katbear/pseuds/katbear
Summary: Sacking of the Jedi Temple near the end of ROTS from three different viewpoints.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: Master Apprentice Archive





	Devastation

** The Padawan **

"Erkin, time for the first evening round."

"Yes, Master. On my way."

Recently promoted Senior Padawan Erkin stood and stretched all eight legs. Still feeling the thrill of her relatively new responsibilities, the arachnid made sure both of her lightsabers were strapped tightly to her crossbelts before ascending to stroll across the ceiling. The library's rhythms and the orderliness of the massive stacks appealed to her sense of the Unifying Force. She had found out early in life that few beings were aware of what was happening over their heads if she was quiet enough, so she periodically dropped to the floor on a thread of silk, then walked around to answer questions or simply make her presence known. Occasionally, usually on a very late evening circuit, she would indulge in the guilty pleasure of dropping straight down from the ceiling onto the table occupied by a group of giggling junior padawans who were clearly not doing homework. The sight of a four-foot arachnid silently appearing in their midst had caused more than one being to release fluids, and she had noted that those junior padawans were much more respectful of the archive spaces after that.

This was usually one of the quietest shifts – mealtime was over, darkness was beginning outside and most people were preparing for their evening activities. An hour in, as individuals and small groups drifted in for study or research, a sudden gut-clenching foreboding stopped Erkin in her tracks. The Force raged in her head; she turned and ran as fast as she could to the central offices. Alarms were blaring on screens by the time she arrived. Staff beings were milling in confusion.

"Quiet." Master Nu's clear voice brought everyone to a halt. "This is not a drill. The Temple is being invaded and shots have been fired. Commence Protection Zed2 protocols. Knights Klav, Oom and d'Lit, take charge of your teams. Knight Gar and Padawan Erkin, to me."

Pandemonium was quickly giving way to orderly action despite the growing tension – outer doors closing, visitors escorted to safe rooms, sensitive documents and information prepared for destruction or deletion.

The three Jedi went swiftly to a secured inner room. Master Nu began coding numbers into a console; three large plastisteel columns rose from the floor. Panels on the columns opened. Within each column was a heavy duty waterproof backpack.

"Knight Gar, Senior Padawan Erkin, I have to ask you to do something very difficult. Each of those packs contains a set of datachips and holochrons with the most critical files of Jedi history, operations and teaching. They must not fall into the wrong hands; pull the green braided tag to initiate a self-destruct device inside if necessary. You both remember all that I taught you of the lower levels?"

"Yes, Master Nu," they answered.

"Good. Each of us will take one of the packs. Knight Gar, your task is to escape the Temple and monitor the news. If the Temple falls, find your way to Dagobah. There are civilian clothing and funds in Room G877 on your way down." Nu waited until the knight nodded.

"Padawan Erkin, you will take a pack and make your way to the lowest levels. You are best equipped to survive down there for an extended time. You will wait in concealment until you can confirm whether or not the Temple has fallen. If it has, wait a maximum of thirty days until a senior Jedi comes. You must be absolutely sure there is a senior Jedi such as a Council member or master AND you can safely go to them to give them the pack. If no senior Jedi arrives or you cannot safely contact them, find your way to Dagobah. Clothing and funds for you are in Room M669."

"I understand, Master Nu. What will you be doing?"

"I will have the third pack. I will stay long enough to oversee destruction of sensitive files if needed. If the worst happens, I will take as many as I can out through the lower levels and then find my way to Dagobah. We will rendezvous there, then find the location of our off-planet secure data back-up site. That information plus what we are taking will become the start of assembling information to help with teaching of future Jedi." Nu unlocked a drawer in the console. "These communicators will enable you to monitor all of the systems within the Temple, including video, and also have a special chip that will let you find any of the three of us. If there are no questions, we need to move quickly."

"I didn't know we had a back-up site on Dagobah. How will I find it if you don't make it?" asked Gar. Erkin had been wondering the same thing.

"Find the pass between the two tallest mountains. Follow the Force from that point to an underground river, then take the left branch to a cave system." Nu put a hand on each of their arms. "This will be difficult, but remember your training. May the Force be with you." 

Ten minutes later, Erkin was ten levels lower, keeping to the ceilings to help avoid detection. The pack was securely attached to her back, covered by a short, belted cloak that covered her body. She had heard energy weapons and explosions as she descended, smelled smoke in several places, and twice caught glimpses of white-armored troopers, but once she passed beyond the main levels into the dimly lit lower floors, it was very quiet.

Erkin stopped in Room M669, thirty levels below main, almost as low as you could go and at least twenty levels more than most beings knew existed. Weatherproof chests held a variety of clothing suitable for various species, emergency rations, water pouches, first-aid kits and several anonymized funds chips and hard currency.

"What to do now," she wondered aloud. "I can't let myself be caught, but I need to know what is happening."

The communicator crackled a bit and the video signal flickered so badly it was unintelligible. The oldest systems were seldom maintained, so with apparently no comm relays properly functioning this far down, clearly thirty levels of thick stone was too much for it. Erkin tried casting with the Force and found a confusing flood of pain, cries, anger and fear. 

"I need information." Erkin secured the back pack in a chest, sealed the room with several layers of sticky silk around the edges and headed back up, one cautious level at a time, leaving light webs at strategic places so she could tell if anyone had been through.

On twenty-five, the communicator signal began to clear. On twenty-two, reception was perfect. The images of death and continued fighting were, however, disturbing sights. Erkin flipped through voice channels, some silent, some with calls for help, some with Masters or Knights trying to organize resistance. Far too few Masters and Knights were still left at the Temple, though – Erkin kept up with the news and knew how many Jedi had been lost to or were still involved in the war effort, spread across the galaxy.

It was painfully clear that, if the Temple had not already fallen, it was only a matter of time.

Erkin had often been accused of being emotionless, heartless and unfeeling and it was true that her species seldom engaged in displays of feelings. That did not mean she didn't have them, however. The Jedi had taken her in as an infant when nobody else knew what to do with her strange burgeoning powers. She was grateful, had formed a few but very strong friendships and had found a purpose in life by serving the Force. Her insatiable thirst for knowledge had led Master Nu to take her on as a padawan, a relationship she cherished at least as much as her relationship with the Force.

Now, her home, her friends, everything that she had known, was being destroyed. Everything except her faith in the Force.

Erkin shoved all of her pain into a compartment in her soul and locked it hard, putting it away for later examination. She focused on her mission – the immediate problem was to verify what was happening.

Another pass through all the channels of the communicators revealed little on the voice channels, mostly a few calls for help or trying to set rally locations. Video, however, was very unsettling. Some areas were on fire, many corridors showed white-armored troopers and in a few areas there was still shooting. There were bodies almost everywhere.

Erkin took a few deep breaths to settle herself before turning to a channel she had been avoiding. As the picture came into focus, she shuddered.

The big double doors to the library had been blasted open. There were burn marks on walls, tables and shelving. There were bodies scattered across the floor; Erkin recognized Knight Oom, bald head baldly scored and one arm almost severed. She moved the focus toward the main office. More destruction marked the path toward the secured area. Erkin noticed that the heavy plastisteel door to the central communications room was ajar; she could see a figure in a black cloak working at the console that controlled the communications beacon. It must have been almost finished with whatever it was doing as within a minute it turned and strode away.

Erkin watched as the figure pushed aside the damaged door. The face was hooded in dark shadow, but her interest in its identity fled when she saw the bodies in the corridor that it passed as it left. She zoomed in.

There!

The unique robes were unmistakable!

Her first instinct was to rush to her fallen master's side, but her sense of duty immediately overrode that impulse with a sharp rebuke. She didn't see the third pack anywhere, so she couldn't reasonably use its rescue as an excuse to head for the library.

Erkin waited, flashing through the other channels, returning to the library view every few minutes. Almost ten minutes went by agonizingly slowly and hope was beginning to dim when she saw Master Nu's head move. Erkin tensed, searching the Force for a trace of her master's signature, and after another few minutes she was rewarded with a tiny flare of Nu's unique pearl white presence. Happy but still anxious, she watched as the librarian slowly pulled herself to her feet. It was only when she saw her master shake herself a little, then walk firmly to a hidden cabinet and remove her pack that Erkin knew it was time to focus only on her own task.

Another pass through the channels confirmed the worst – the Temple had fallen. Erkin had not really had time to come up with a plan for what to do next, so she took a few minutes to consider her options and what she knew of the layout of the underground levels.

The twenty-first level… yes, the old operations center would do nicely as a base. The comms worked on that level, there were four entrances plus a ceiling hatch, several monitors with which to keep an eye on the corridors and other parts of the Temple. Time to get to work.

Erkin could move swiftly, so it didn't take her long to get back to her supply room, secure the pack, escape supplies and several days' worth of water and food, and move everything to the old ops center. She put the pack and most of the supplies in the ceiling, then turned on five monitors and set them to rotating views of Temple areas and the corridors outside her temporary home. Her last measure before securing her base doors was to venture out and set trap webs in various places – thirty days was a long time to wait and any additional food, especially fresh food, would be welcome.

A metallic noise caught her attention as she was returning from the twentieth level. She stopped at the base of a long, dark stairwell and cast her Force senses out. There was definitely a being one level above, a highly agitated individual approaching. Moving along the ceiling, she cautiously advanced upward.

In the dim light, she saw a trooper. This close, she could hear loud cursing as he kept tapping on a communicator. He seemed to be quite lost and, and, judging by the random static she heard, his comm device was cutting out. As he stomped closer to the top of the stairs, Erkin went very still as an interesting thought crossed her mind, a thought her master would probably tell her she needed to meditate on. She reminded herself that revenge was unbecoming of a Jedi, but when the idiot started down the stairs she pushed that thought away with a reminder of how many days she could feed herself with this tantalizing source; it was not the way of her people to pass up such an opportunity.

From her vantage above, Erkin waited until the trooper had passed beneath her, then swiftly shot out a string of webbing, wrapping around his head and arms. She dropped to the stairs and pushed him hard, sending him tumbling down the rest of the stairs. The clacking and clanging was quite loud, but there was also a satisfying 'crack' that likely meant a broken neck. Swift, safe and no trace of lightsaber sound to alert anyone.

Definitely dead. Erkin poked a few times at the unmoving heap of twisted limbs. She removed the helmet, tossed it aside with the weapon, then strung some webs raggedly across the stairwell so that they looked like the trooper had gotten tangled in them. She hefted the body and carried it down near her lair. A few rooms down the hall was a former office, so she took her prize there, removed the armor and dumped it in a large cabinet. She hurked up several shots of digestive juice, poured it over the flesh and stood back.

"There, that will be nice and tasty when you're done marinating." She allowed herself a minor obscene gesture before leaving.

Erkin locked the doors of the ops center, then made a sweep of all the comm channels to get up to date on the Temple situation. Another visual pass, including the library. She gave thanks to the Force that there was no sight of Master Nu anywhere, taking that as a sign that she probably escaped.

There was little else the padawan could do to prepare to carry out her task. She had a secure space, surveillance capability for almost the entire Temple in case anyone came looking for the lost trooper, food and water, and her escape supplies. She turned the lights down to almost total darkness, the room lit only by the monitors.

Finally, the reality of her situation began to truly sink in. The destruction, the many deaths, her life upended in fire and blood. The Force was still her rock, her anchor to cling to, but the path ahead was too black to see through the haze of pain that was starting to seep through her shielding.

Brooding over her thoughts, Erkin settled into her grim vigil.

*** *** *** *** ***

** The Sith **

"_Every single Jedi, including your friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi, is now an enemy of the Republic._"  
"_I understand, Master._"  
"_We must move quickly. The Jedi are relentless. If they are not all destroyed, it will be civil war without end._"

―Darth Sidious and Darth Vader

"_First, I want you to go to the Jedi Temple. We will catch them off balance. Do what must be done, Lord Vader. Do not hesitate; show no mercy._"

―Darth Sidious, to Darth Vader

The formation stopped a few blocks short of its objective, out of sight from the Jedi Temple.

Lord Vader turned about and looked at his troops, HIS 501st, the perfect weapon to carry out this task. He paused a few moments as he sensed the first ripples in the Force of Order 66 being initiated, remembering the words of his new master:

"_Every single Jedi, including your friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi, is now an enemy of the Republic._"

"Yes," he whispered to himself. "They are all enemies." He faced his soldiers and spoke loudly, projecting his voice. "We march on the Temple, home of the Jedi traitors. Show no mercy. Kill them all."

Vader smiled at the rumbling reply, already feeling the reverberations in the Force as Order 66 spread swiftly among the clone soldiers. He turned back and stepped off, the echo of marching feet accompanying their advance.

Up the long stretch of stairs fronting the Temple, their legs moved in unison, bringing the thunder of the coming storm to the enemy. Vader's heart thumped to that bass beat.

First blood was ridiculously simple. Lightsaber ignited, a few flicks of his wrist, and the two erstwhile guardians of the doors were down.

With the ease of long practice, the formation split apart and each group headed for their assigned objective. Two squads followed Darth Vader.

Level by level, the death toll grew. Bodies were left in the invaders wake – behind the clones the Jedi were decimated by concerted blaster fire, behind the newly minted Sith lord was the unmistakable scoring of his lightsaber.

"Blow the doors." One lip lifted in a scornful half-smile. Typical Jedi hubris, he thought, if they believed a simple set of blast doors could keep his team out of the archives.

A bald knight fronted a team of what appeared to be senior padawans of various species – they had stacked tables to create barricades and Vader was sure there were a few more of them lurking in the stacks and on the balcony above. The Sith gave them a grudging bit of respect for the first decently organized defense they had encountered, but it only briefly put off the inevitable. The idiots had no weapons other than their 'sabers and a middling control of the Force while his men were both well-trained and well-armed. Vader took on the knight, practically cutting off his arm before swiping a killing blow across his skull, as his men flanked and surrounded padawans before putting them down with concentrated torrents of lethal energy bursts from their weapons.

Vader strode swiftly down the corridor leading to his target, the central communications control room in the heart of the archives. He dispatched another knight and two padawans, then stopped short as he turned a corner. A Jedi master stood before a heavy door, a lightsaber in her hands.

Jocasta Nu, you officious bitch, Vader snarled to himself, with all your rules and finger-in-my-face rebukes about touching your precious books. How dare you try to confront me with a lightsaber.

A glare and a flash of his yellow eyes accompanied Vader's raised hand. He swept the old archivist aside with a vicious Force shove, her body hitting the wall with a loud 'thunk'. He snorted as her limp body slid down the wall to sprawl on the floor.

Vader pulled open the plastisteel door and went straight to the control panel. He concentrated as he broke into the comm system and made his changes to create a broadcast message – the war is over, return to the Temple. A pleased smile twitched his lips as he finished. If any of the Jedi survived Order 66, this would pull them in so they could finish the job.

Back out on the main floor, it was very quiet. The clones had finished mopping up the last of the padawans.

"The library is cleared, sir," reported the senior squad leader.

"Good job. Continue clearing this floor then continue to your next assigned area. I'm going to the upper levels." 

Several steps into the Council Chamber, Vader stopped. Only the center was lit, the lights from the Coruscant night traffic a flickering display in the windows.

This was a familiar place, but not a happy one – years of slights and lies ensured that. A rustling noise from behind Yoda's chair broke his thoughts. There was a gaggle of initiates hiding in the dimness. One stepped forward, a young tow-headed human boy.

"Master Skywalker, there are too many of them! What we are going to do?"

The sight before him brought a searing memory of his younger self. Anakin Skywalker, that idealistic young fool who had wanted to be a Jedi, who had thought the Jedi were heroes and could do no wrong. This was the room where that dream had first been shattered. ''Too young," they had pronounced, "he will not be trained." Later, salt poured into wounds in this same place, "You will be on the Council, but we will not make you a master."

Vader's eyes refocused on the younglings, which brought back even more memories – the smug little bastards who had taunted and teased him for years after Obi-Wan had forced the Council's hand and Anakin had become a padawan.

The lightsaber was blazing in his hand before Vader had even registered the action. Face set, eyes hard, he set to work with grim gratification.

His blood was still hot and raging as the former Jedi stalked the halls. He cast out and found his next victim. Master Shaak Ti was still meditating when he ran his lightsaber through her.

The Force signatures were becoming fewer and fainter, but there were three strong sparks a few levels down. Vader followed the lead and was soon engaged with two padawans. He disengaged and stepped back as a new presence entered. Vader grinned – it was Master Cin Drallig, the Temple's battlemaster. Finally, a worthy opponent!

Power surged as Vader called on the Dark side and he gloried in the fire running through him. This was the power he had been meant to have! This was the power those fucking Jedi had tried to deny him!

The three Jedi proved to be no match for the young Sith Lord coming into his full being, not even the best swordmaster the Order had. A choke hold put one padawan down, and the sizzling vroom of the dancing lightsaber soon dispatched the others.

Minutes later, Darth Sidious arrived. Vader knelt before his master, drinking in his congratulations and obvious pride in his success.

"You have done well, Lord Vader. I have another task for you which will help bring peace. You must travel to Mustafar and eliminate the beings leading the traitorous Confederacy of Independent Systems."

"I will do your bidding, my master."

Vader took a few minutes to check on his troops after Sidious left, but despite some losses the clones of the 501st were well on their way to total success, so he left them to their work.

Walking out through the burning hallways, the acrid tang of smoke in his nostrils, Darth Vader was still filled with the heat of righteous revenge and the ecstasy of coming into his full strength. Added to his jubilance was the knowledge that he had been able to ensure that his wife's life would be saved.

A smile was on his lips as he left the Temple and contemplated his reunion with Padme before leaving for Mustafar – she would be so pleased with him when he told her the good news.

*** *** *** *** ***

** The Jedi Master **

"_Not even the Younglings survived._"  
"_Killed not by clones, this Padawan, but by a lightsaber, he was._"  
"_Who? Who could have done this?_"

―Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, upon finding a group of murdered Jedi hopefuls in the Temple

A feeling of dissonance swept through Obi-Wan Kenobi as he peered around the corner of a building toward a seldom-used entrance to the Temple. A squad of troopers guarded the nondescript doorway, the afternoon sun gleaming on their white armor.

He still didn't understand what had happened on Utapau, although he remembered clearly the keening wail in the Force as clone troopers throughout the galaxy turned on Jedi and shot to kill. Troopers they had fought with, side by side, through sorrow, joy and hardship, for so many years. The pain still shrilled in his soul despite his best efforts to still it.

Yoda touched him gently in the Force, and Obi-Wan pulled his focus to the here and now. This was probably their best opportunity to get into the Temple while Palpatine was holding his emergency Galactic Senate meeting. They had listened long enough on a radio comm to understand that Palpatine intended to dissolve the Republic and replace it with an empire, making their mission that much more urgent.

Obi-Wan sent back a signal of readiness. A minute later, he and Yoda burst out and descended upon the unsuspecting troopers with lightsabers blazing. It was but the work of moments for the two masters to put down the entire squad.

The Temple was still regal and glorious despite the occasional black scoring from energy weapons, massive stone and metal-clad pillars and statues lining the wide hallway where they walked. The place stank of fire and death, however, and it was not long before they began encountering bodies sprawled on the gray and bronze patterned stone floors.

Some of the broken figures were clone troopers, a testament to the fierce defense the Jedi must have put up. Many, too many, were residents of the Temple, all ages and many species represented in the carnage.

Yoda and Obi-Wan stopped by a group of a half dozen bodies near the base of a blaster-scored pillar. A few were padawans, lightsabers still clenched in lifeless hands. Obi-Wan looked at the smaller forms and his gut roiled in disgust when he realized most were initiates, mere children.

"Not even the Younglings survived," murmured Obi-Wan. Bile crawled up the back of his throat.

Yoda stared down at one body in particular for a moment before speaking slowly. "Killed not by clones, this Padawan, but by a lightsaber, he was."

Obi-Wan knelt by the young humanoid and confirmed the horrific finding. He looked at Yoda, "Who? Who could have done this?"

Yoda simply shook his head sadly. "Know I do not. Our mission here must we continue."

Glancing back down for a moment, Obi-Wan's lips tightened. "We need to go quickly." He rose and they hastened their steps to their objective. They did not stop again, but every body Obi-Wan passed was noted for mourning later.

They encountered no live troopers inside the Temple and were soon inside the archives. Yoda waited as Obi-Wan found the communication beacon array. Obi-Wan pulled internal panels and made the changes directly to the system instead of using the control panel, hiding his efforts to make it difficult for anyone without exactly the correct expertise to find and reverse his changes. Finally satisfied with his results, he closed the last panel and left the array room to rejoin Yoda.

As they began to walk out, Obi-Wan stopped as he realized he was seeing one of the stations where security footage could be reviewed.

"Wait, master, there is something I must know." Obi-Wan walked down the two steps to the holo station.

"Obi-Wan, if into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find." Yoda's expression was troubled as he uttered his caution.

Yoda's words did not deter his fellow Jedi. "I must know the truth, master." He turned on the security footage and found images recently recorded.

The first sound was of clashing lightsabers, the image that of Master Cin Drallig and two of his trainees. They were locked in battle with… no, surely that wasn't Anakin.

Obi-Wan froze as he saw Anakin kill the three Jedi. The images moved on. Who was that? A red hot knife plunged into his heart as he moaned, "It can't be. It can't be."

The recording relentlessly continued. What could that bastard mean, Anakin was his new apprentice? Obi-Wan couldn't breathe as he saw Anakin stand, heard him addressed as Lord Darth Vader and given orders to bring peace to the Empire.

"I can't watch any more." There was a tiny tremor in Obi-Wan's hand as he reached to turn off the footage.

Yoda closed his eyes and bowed his head.

There was a short silence as Obi-Wan tried to gather himself. 

Yoda raised his head. "Destroy the Sith, we must." He thumped his gimmer stick on the floor.

Obi-Wan put one foot on lower step. "Send me to kill the emperor. I will not kill Anakin." 

"To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough, you are not." Yoda's expression was stern but sad.

"He is like my brother," pleaded Obi-Wan. "I cannot do it."

"Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is, consumed by Darth Vader."

"I do not know where the emperor has sent him." Obi-Wan's voice was desperate. "I don't know where to look."

"Use your feelings, Obi-Wan, and find him you will." Yoda turned and walked away.

The knife in his heart turned to ice and twisted hard. Obi-Wan felt numb, so oblivious to his surroundings that he didn't see the large arachnid that slipped out of a maintenance vent, slid to the floor on a silent wisp of silk, then bowed to Yoda. He saw only a red haze for almost a full minute as he struggled to find himself, to find enough energy to move.

Finally, Obi-Wan drew a deep, shuddering breath. He was a Jedi master. His world might be shattered, his friends dead, his home violated, but he was still a Jedi master. He had a duty to do. Even if that was all that was left to him, he had the Force and he had a duty to fulfill.

Obi-Wan turned away and began marching down the hallway to find an exit from the Temple. He would start with Padme Amidala – if anyone knew where Anakin might be going, it was probably she. He would find Anakin… he refused to think of him as Darth Vader… he would find Anakin. Maybe there was still hope that he could turn Anakin back to the light. He had to try.

A brief vision swept through Obi-Wan, a dark future swirling with uncertainty and pain. Obi-Wan swallowed hard and kept marching. Even if there was no more joy in his life, duty would be his armor, duty would give him strength. He would endure whatever was coming. He was a Jedi Master and he would survive to do whatever was needful.

finis

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Merry Amilie and Lady Saddlebred for the story beta.  
Thanks to Sian for the story art and for putting ConStrict together.  
This story is from the ConStrict zine of July 2019.


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